Well, where should I start and forgive me if I start rambling...
 
I have spent some time with the EWI USB and the Saxphones Vi, at least the alto and tenor. I have probably spent more time just trying to get the EWI instrument set up to work best for me. There are a few parameters that can make the instrument work completely different. Note that the EWI USB does seem like a solid and quality piece of gear for the money and the support guys (email and phone) have been great.
 
I still have not yet found a way to make the vibrato sound realistic just by using the bite sensor. A wind player will change vibrato depth and rate depending on the phrase or note being played. If you are satisfied using just the vibrato depth that the Saxophones Vi provides then it is easy to set the EWI bite sensor up to provide that. It would be just like using the default mod wheel when controlling the Vi with a keyboard. In theory, you can set the EWI bite sensor up to bend pitch and this would probably be the right way to do a realistic vibrato but a technique not easily learned by this Old Dog...
 
I also have not found a consistent way to do a scoop-up or 1/2 valve to slur up into a note but again this is probably just a setting/learning curve thing for me.
 
I think they would make a Great combo if a guy is willing to spend the time learning the techniques to play a new instrument but if I had to use this live it would take me months of dedicated practice.
 
For just playing a few bars while recording the midi and then doing some edits it would work Great in a short amount of time but you could probably do the same thing using a keyboard and a few CC controllers as The Band19 suggested above. A breath control or even an expression pedal would work fine or you could just draw the midi events in Sonars PRV albeit time consuming.
 
Also, the genre would really come into play as far as the learning curve. I'm looking for something to perform/solo modern jazz to fusion and it will take a while for this Old Dog to learn some of those new tricks although I am not giving up yet and am trying to keep an open mind.
 
So at this point, other than the above points, I have not come to any concrete conclusions yet except I am not the least bit sorry that I made these purchases and I think it will open new avenues that I otherwise would have never explored.
 
If you have any specific questions I will try to answer them using my still limited experience. Hope this helps just a little.
 
Kind regards,
Rick
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That's great! Helps a lot Rick. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain your findings.
 
I'm not all that interested in the learning curve that may be required for this other 'Old Dog', so I've been leaning either towards an expression pedal, as both my keyboards have a dedicated 1/4" input jack for that, or quite possibly the TEController as mentioned earlier in my post # 28.
 
Especially since I found it also suggested on Samplemodelling's site as a suitable alternative. 
 
http://www.tecontrol.se/products/usb-midi-breath-controller
 
I'll most likely spring for the saxes, but go for the cheaper breath control dealy, since it can be used far & wide on other things as well.
 
Cheers!

Sounds like a good plan! 

I hear you loud and clear Rick!  I will never be ready to play the EWI-USB in public but I can do a decent job in my studio.  Here are a couple of tricks that I have learned.

Vibrato – forget about depth and aim for rate. Then highlight the area where the depth is too much and use process/find/change to modify them. If you are unsure on doing this just ask but for now I’ll assume you have used find/change in the past.

½ valve slur – I find this very hard to do; us old trumpet players only had to use three fingers to get a note, not counting the D slide if you used one.  I try my best to get it live but then edit it in Sonar.

Good luck.

Thanks for the tips MarioD!
 
Kind regards,
Rick